Manufacturers, retailers, and other business concerns have long sought to sell goods and services by advertising the availability of their products or services to the public. In hand with this, advertising firms have sought to create and market advertising signage which is unique and will not only catch the public's collective eye, but also turn its attention toward the goods and services offered for sale. Advertising sign manufacturers and inventors have worked to meet this demand by designing and manufacturing outdoor display and signage devices which will be readily noticed by the consuming public, and will effectively communicate the advertiser's message to the public in order to promote sales of the goods or services advertised.
As those in the field of art are aware, initial attempts to advertise products for sale used little more than stationary billboards or plaques having an advertising sign displayed on the face thereof. Some of these prior art billboards were equipped to display advertising on both sides. The sides of these prior art billboards were then exposed to public view. Both advertisers and advertising sign manufacturers, however, sought ways to maximize both the return on their investment in advertising costs, and in the manufacture of advertising displays, respectively.
An early disclosure of a display device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,855,522 to H. Lando, issued Apr. 26, 1932. This patent discloses a display device having a plurality of display plates enclosed in a first housing and a second transparent housing spaced apart and enclosing the first housing. The display plates are illuminated internally, and revolve about a point inside the first housing while a fountain plays between the two housings to attract the public's view.
Another advertising sign is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,102,550, to M. C. Treesh, issued Dec. 14, 1937. In Treesh, a revolving cylindrical sign is supported on a vertical pole passing through the housing. The advertising sign of Treesh rotates on the support pole and it has colored neon lights on its exterior to draw the public's attention to the advertisement on the revolving face of the sign.
A different approach to a revolving advertising sign is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,395, to H. T. Hutchens, issued Apr. 15, 1958. In Hutchens, a rotating cylindrical advertising sign is supported on a central pole as in Treesh. However, and unlike Treesh, the advertising sign of Hutchens is formed of a cylindrical translucent plastic glass which has pairs of spaced apart bands extending thereabout for holding lettering or other symbols to create an advertising sign. The sign is illuminated from the inside. As with the advertising sign of Treesh, the advertising sign of Hutchens is driven by a drive mechanism located inside the sign housing. Hutchens, however, teaches that in addition to having a revolving portion of the advertising sign, there also can be a stationery portion of the advertising sign supported above the revolving portion of the sign which is visible above the sign by passers by.
Thus, it is known in the art to have revolving advertising signs with an advertising sign or billboard contained on its face which can be seen by the public. These prior art signs, however, have become commonplace, and one advertising sign is thus no more noticeable than the preceding, or subsequent, advertising signs observed by the public. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an advertising sign which has a cylindrical display surface formed by a plurality of changeable surfaces which revolve about a common central axis and which rotate on their own axes, and which will draw the public's attention to the sign, as well as to the advertisements displayed on the sign.